“No.”
“You know the only reason you’re alive?”
“What’s that?”
“They knew you was with me. That’s the only reason you ain’t dead.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I get a fuckin’ call from Chilly asking me if I sent you. I shoulda known better. I shoulda known you were goin’ over there. Now look at you. Face all fucked up. Any broken bones?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Do you realize the position that puts me in?”
“You? What position does it put you in?”
“You’re with me, Travis, which means you come under my protection. Chilly is old school, so he respects that, which is why he didn’t kill you for tryin’ to involve yourself in his business. But them niggas still beat the fuck outta you. I’m supposed to do something about it. I don’t do something about this, niggas start thinkin’ I’m gettin’ soft and they can come at any one of my people. Do you understand what I’m sayin’? Niggas thinking I’m soft is bad for business.”
“I wasn’t thinkin’ about all that.”
“No, you weren’t. Shit, Travis, I oughta shoot you myself.”
At that point, Me’shelle had heard enough. She came out of the room.
“Is that why you’re here? To kill me?”
They both looked up as Me’shelle came into the room.
“No. That’s not why I’m here,” Freeze said.
“I told you to stay in the room,” Travis said to Me’shelle.
“She can stay. I don’t give a fuck if she hears what I have to say. I came here to see how you were doin’. And I came to tell you again to stay out of it. Don’t you go anywhere near Chilly or his people. Let Chilly handle his business. And stay away from the cops.”
“What about my niece? They can’t just rape her and murder my brother and get away with it.”
Freeze looked at Me’shelle then turned his attention back to Travis. “Chilly is the type of man who knows that type of shit is bad for business. You let this shit go, Travis. You let Chilly handle his business and you go back to doin’ what you do. I want your word that this is no longer your problem.”
“You have my word,” Travis told Freeze.
“Wait a minute,” Me’shelle protested, but Freeze ignored her.
“I talked to Chilly, and he gave me his word that he would handle this, so you’re out of it. Now it’s my problem,” Freeze said and stood up. “Shit like this never needs to happen again, Travis. You understand me?”
“I understand.”
Freeze walked toward the door.
“That’s it?” Me’shelle asked, but Freeze continued to ignore her.
Travis got up and followed Freeze to the door.
Freeze stopped. “Oh yeah. One more thing I gotta say.”
“What’s that?”
“Whatever I do is always business. Never personal, even if it seems that way. Remember that.” Freeze continued toward the door. “And it will never have anything to do with you and me. Understand?”
“Understood,” Travis said as he let Freeze out and closed the door behind him.
“Who the fuck does he think he is?”
Travis smiled. “Freeze thinks he’s the only reason that we’re both not dead.” He put his arm around Me’shelle and led her back to the bedroom. “And you know what? He’s right.” He took off his pants and began to undress Me’shelle.
“Even so, he didn’t have to ignore me like I wasn’t even there. That was disrespectful.”
“True. But it is what it is,” Travis said as he got back in the bed.
Me’shelle followed Travis under the covers. “So, that’s it, huh?”
“That’s it.”
“I should just believe that these people are going to make everything all right?”
“No, Me’shelle. Even if they kill the guys who did it, nothing will change the fact that your brother and his wife are dead, or that your niece is traumatized by what happened to her.”
“Exactly. So it’s not over for me.”
“What are you gonna do?”
“I don’t know. What can I do?”
Chapter Thirty-eight
It had been a week since Rocky put the word out on the street that he wanted Warren Miller. After all that time, no one had any information that turned out to be worth anything. It was always “You just missed him” or “He was here yesterday” or the always popular “I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.” Miller and his partners knew they were hot, so they were laying low.
Although he quickly dismissed the idea, Rocky gave some thought to calling the police tip line and telling them that Miller was responsible for the rape and murder of the Lawrence family. That would solve part of his problem, but he knew it wouldn’t satisfy Chilly. No, Rocky knew that he was the one who sent Miller out there, so he had to be the one to drag him in.
As Detective Kirkland promised, the police were making life miserable for Chilly. Needless to say, Chilly was not happy about the situation and was starting to lose patience with Rocky. So, once again Rocky found himself on the street, but this time his approach was different. Now he started to push a lot harder, leaning on the people he was sure knew something and just weren’t saying because they were scared of what Miller would do to them. But it was Rocky they really had to fear. He would be their nightmare now.
Rocky also decided to change one other aspect of his approach. He took his focus off the head and concentrated on the body. Word had gotten back to Rocky that there were three people who usually did jobs with Miller. One was found dead on the scene, one was called Blue, and the other’s name was Jordan Davis. Rocky knew Davis, knew where he hung out, and most importantly, Rocky knew his girlfriend, Jeanna Mitchell, and knew her well.
Late that night, Rocky knocked on her door. “Who is it?” Jeanna yelled though the door.
“Its Rocky, Jeanna.”
“Rocky?” She looked out the peephole. A flood of memories came rushing back to her. “What you want?”
“I wanted talk to you, Jeanna. You gonna open the door or what?”
Reluctantly, Jeanna unlocked the door and opened it. It had been three years since she’d seen Rocky, and over that time she had let herself go. She had lost a lot of weight, her face was thin, and her eyes seemed to bug out of her head. Hair that was once long and beautiful was now nappy and stuck to her head. “What you want, Rocky?”
“You gonna let me in, Jeanna, or do I gotta stand out here?”
“You can come in, but I still want to know what you want.”
“Maybe I just wanted to see you,” Rocky said as he plopped down on her couch.
“Shit,” she said, still standing by the door. “I ain’t seen your ass in years, Rocky, and you expect me to believe that you just dropped by ’cause you missed me? I don’t think so.”
“Come here, Jeanna. Let me look at you.”
“Why?”
“’Cause I wanna look at you.”
She walked over to the couch and stood in front Rocky. “Happy now?”
Rocky looked her up and down. “What happened to you, Jeanna?”
“What’s that supposed to mean? You sayin’ ’cause I lost some weight and my hair ain’t done that I ain’t fine no more?”
“Yeah. You used to be fine as hell. Now look at you.”
“Fuck you, Rocky. I get my hair done and put on some clothes, I’m still the baddest bitch you ever fucked.”
Rocky looked at Jeanna and smiled. “You were, but not now. That glass dick got you now. You ain’t nothin’ but a crack ho now.”
“I ain’t nobody’s ho, nigga. My man takes care of me, so fuck you.”
“Still got them pretty-ass dick-suckin’ lips, though. Probably takin’ good care of him too.” Rocky smiled and rubbed his crotch.
“What you want, Rocky?”
“I’m lookin’ for Jordan.”
“What you want with Jordan?”
“I wanna talk to him.”
“What about?”
“I got business with him.”
“What business you got with Jordan?”
“That ain’t no concern of yours. It’s better that you don’t know anyway, Jeanna. You know that. Now, do you know how to get in touch with him?